Prayer Request

Granny Turner, Lisa and Tina's grandmother, was admitted into CMC yesterday. She is not doing well. Mother and I went by to visit her yesterday and had prayer with her. She said she is probably sicker than she's ever been, and she is in a lot of pain. This lady is well into her 90's and she has seen a lot in her lifetime. She has also been a faithful Christian for many years.

Please join me in prayer for her that the Lord will give her comfort.

Harvest Food Pantry

I received the following e-mail this afternoon. I'm posting it here as a courtesy to Sister Sharon.

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As most of you know I have been actively involved in Harvest Food Pantry (a ministry of Harvest Christian Fellowship Church, 2505 Washington Pike, Knoxville, TN 37917) since the summer of 1998 when we first opened our doors. We went from serving 7 families on that first day in July to around 150 families each time the doors open now.

That's approximately 525 people who will benefit from the food distributed each time we are open.

God has blessed this ministry beyond words with our small congregation solely
supporting it, with the exception of some occasional contributions and donations.
In addition to providing for us, God truly helps us offer those that come,
"Bread for their Body, as well as Bread for their Soul" through His Word!

As we open our doors this coming Friday for the first time in 2008 we continue to face some challenges that have arisen in the past few years, as quality food is increasingly more difficult to find. This is one of the most common problems associated with poverty and trying to fill the needs of the hungry. Trying to obtain food that will nourish them, instead of junk food (which is always readily available) is a difficulty we face on a continual basis.

In effort to help positively impact the people who come to us in need without asking others for financial support, I am simply asking everyone that I know who belongs to a Church, a Sunday School Class, a Community Club, works in an office, are Local Business owners,
or maybe just attend a Class that's looking for a Missions (type) Project to help support this ministry in this very simple way:

Your Group would Choose 1 Item such as, Peanut butter, or Cereal, or Oatmeal, or Spaghetti, or Flour, etc., (you get the idea). Then have your group collect ONLY that item on a continual basis throughout each month of the year.

At the end of each month, I will come and pick up whatever you collected.
If you have a local business, we can bring a container where you could collect donations of that item to help support the Hungry. It takes about 150 of any ONE ITEM to fill one set of grocery bags for distribution. If you collected 150 boxes of Cereal, there would be enough for every family to receive one in their bag for that week.

This would bless this ministry beyond words, it would certainly be a blessing to those who receive food from Harvest Food Pantry and of course you would be blessed in your giving.

I will make a list of Donors to be placed in each bag that is distributed, unless you prefer to remain anonymous.

Not including any other expenses, it costs approximately $650 a month to purchase enough food from Second Harvest Food Bank to feed 300 families (approximately 1,050 people). So, if your class, business, school, or other would rather take an offering and donate funds, you could be responsible for feeding over 1,000 people easily!
What a tremendous and rewarding feeling it is to know that you are impacting the mission field that exists right in your own backyard!

Also, if anyone is qualified to teach a Parenting Class or Budgeting Class and would like to donate a couple of hours of time, we would love to implement that in our ministry! If you have any area of expertise that you feel you could donate, or maybe you work in the Food Industry and have any "Day Old" items that could be donated, that too would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this.
I hope you will pray about helping us, help those who come to us with desperate needs!

You can contact me via e-mail: Sharon6tn@aol.com or on my cell phone: 865- 705-2559

With Sincere Gratitude,

Sharon Aruta
Harvest Food Pantry Director
Harvest ROC Ministries
865-637-1295 church office

The Favor of God

We've been gathering people for this church we call New Beginnings for 6 months and it is absolutely amazing what God is doing.

Yes, there have been times when I wondered how this was all going to work out, but then the Lord would remind me that this is His doing, not mine.

It is sometimes difficult to be starting a church in an area that already has so many churches (and several of them COGOP). The enemy has tried to discourage us by directing criticism our way, but we remain focused on our mission. Nehemiah, too, had his critics and those who opposed what he was doing, but he walked in the favor of God.

We believe we have heard from God, and we have stepped out in faith. We have no desire to compete with what God is doing in other churches. We simply want to join in the harvest and win the lost for Christ and His kingdom!

The only way I know how to explain what’s happening at New Beginnings is that for some reason the timing seems right and God seems to pouring out His favor on us.

Here's what's been happening...

1. From August to January we were meeting in a small chapel (the Sam & Zella Lawsom Memorial Chapel) free of charge.

2. In December the Lord suddenly opened a door for us to move into a much larger building in Crossville in an excellent location, and the rent is VERY low. We had our first service in the new building yesterday.

3. The Lord has been speaking to our people, and we have received pledges that will more than cover the rent of this facility.

4. Since the very beginning (in August), Harvest Christian Fellowship has been partnering with us in prayer and financial support.

5. We have received financial support for youth & children’s ministries from not only people who attend New Beginnings, but people who are interested in what we are doing.

6. Recently we received a substantial donation for a multimedia system and other needed items.

7. Yesterday a lady (from another denomination) stopped by after church to let me know that she has been telling people about our church and is excited about what God is doing.

It seems very clear to me that God's favor is upon us, and we are deeply thankful for His favor and blessing!